Often nature takes over and the piles of wood chips begin to decompose. This natural process leads to an obvious use – compost.

Other clean wood waste* uses:

1. For lumber reuse – in products such as particle board or chipboard.
2. To manufacture pulp and paper products
3. As animal bedding
4. As mulch – which is often used for weed control
5. As biomass fuel or hog fuel – burnt to produce heat and/or generate electricity
6. As a bulking agent for compost products
7. As a soil amendment – often mixed in with screened top soil material
8. As ground cover – Used naturally or dyed
9. For dust control
10. Used inside of mess or burlap/jute bags which are then used for erosion control.

*Clean wood waste is any wood that is derived from wood recycling or chipping processes that produce wood products that are free of contaminants or hazardous materials such as glue, lead paint, asbestos, etc.

It is also important the wood chips are free of metals such as nails or screws, as well as broken glass. When selling wood chips for reuse, check with the buyer for their guidelines. To ensure the quality of wood chips, random checks should be performed.

For an example of the heavy equipment we used for our wood recycling and composting business, see the post titled: How To Separate Rock from Wood Products”.